"The Majestic", the Chinese translation is "Movie Life", or "Ecstasy". First of all, I admit that it was the former that attracted me to watch. I imagined that it was a fantasy in which the protagonist walked into the movie, or it was a theme close to "The World of Truman". With the development of the plot, Jim Carry has amnesia and did not take risks in the movie. I also sensitively associate "Ecstasy" with the theme of "Who Am I" that the self-identification of Hong Kong people after 1997 is confusing, but The United States does not have such thorny issues as "one country, two systems." It wasn't until the cemetery of the fallen soldiers appeared that it was actually an American movie about heroes.
Don’t be busy rejecting and rejecting movies because it is a movie that instills mainstream American values. What should be faced is that any nation needs the existence of heroic images. A nation without heroes has no pride or fighting spirit. What is commendable is that, It can move audiences of different cultural backgrounds, such as the most successful "Forrest Gump". Regardless of whether the audience accepts the content disseminated and indoctrinated, at least they can reflect on the shortcomings of the main melody movies in our country from the way of expression and technique.
The clue of "Ecstasy" is the process of hero reappearance-dissolution-reconstruction.
The heroic image reappears: The Hollywood screenwriter Epton, who lost his memory in a car accident, was rescued by the elderly in Rollin Town. Most of the population in the town is elderly. The younger generation died in World War II. No one came out of grief. The only movie theater in the town. And therefore closed. They accept that the similar-looking Appleton is Luke, the soldier who has been missing for nine years without seeing a dead body, because they long for a hero; even though the black man in the theater and Luke’s girlfriend discovered that he was a fake early in the morning, they still did not dismantle him. To be precise, it was. Unwilling to open it. They need heroes to lead them to start a new life, such as reopening a movie theater.
The heroic image is dispelled: Luke can play a superb classical piano, while Appleton is playing jazz; Luke is fighting for the country, while Appleton is a chasing woman who participates in Communist Party meetings and is a greedy person who fears death. These characteristics of Epton are just the subversion of the heroic identity given by the townspeople, and at the same time the heroic image is gradually disintegrating.
Reconstruction of heroic image: Epton refused to state the statement prepared by the lawyer in court, and blatantly opposed the Committee of Non-American Activities. Won the affirmation of everyone in Luolin Town, and stylizedly embrace the beauty (the poor woman becomes a hero's prize again). Ironically, after a brave confrontation, Appleton not only didn't have to go to jail, but he also became a hero. As the lawyer said, the committee will not further make him a martyr, but will portray him as a witness in their favor: he had no intention of confessing another Communist Party member during his statement. It turns out that the origin of the hero is not innocent.
Throughout the film, there are two heroic images in mainstream American values: one is represented by Luke, who sacrificed his life for the country, and the maintenance of peace and justice; the other is represented by Epperton, who is to safeguard the national constitution and justice. Fight for democratic principles. The hero is a spiritual idol that is needed no matter what age, and it is also the modern meaning of the film.
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